MindTrekkers Take
STEM for a Ride

MindTrekker volunteer prepares Dragon's Breath.

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A group of mostly engineering and science students is taking the concept of a college road trip to a completely different level. Calling themselves “MindTrekkers,” the students  from Michigan Technical University are preaching the gospel of science, technology, science, and mathematics to K-12 students through a traveling roadshow featuring a gaggle of interactive science demonstrations designed to wow their young charges and get them thinking early about science and technology. Now, they want to go even farther, enlisting the help of private firms, professional societies, and other universities to boost STEM nationwide.

“They have the capacity to relate to a wide range of age groups,” says Cody Kangas, a faculty advisor who has been working with the group since 2008. And they have to do it fast, because MindTrekkers normally sets up shop within the confines of large-scale science and engineering fairs teeming with thousands of kids bussed in for the day.

Standout

Kangas says they’ve succeeded because they naturally stand out among many of the more static booths that private companies and government agencies send to such events. Not unlike a carnival barker, Michigan Tech students are animated, clamoring for attention with demonstrations of things such as “dragon’s  breath,” a tasty snack soaked in liquid nitrogen. The snacks are warmed and the temperature change when the food is placed in a student’s mouth creates evaporation that is then breathed out. (Watch the MindTrekkers video here.)

Oobleck is a fluid with resistance and kids love it.

Perhaps the most popular station involves oobleck, a non-Newtonian fluid made famous years ago by Dr. Seuss.  It is a liquid made from corn starch that produces a reaction force equal and opposite to the action force applied to it. When the MindTrekkers make a lot of it, kids seem to walk on water.

“We mixed up 300 pounds of corn starch next to our booth,” says Kangas of a recent event. “It was the hit of the show.”

The Beginning

MindTrekkers got its start in 2004 when some Tech students made the long trip from campus in Houghton, in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, to a high-school science exhibition in Ann Arbor, at the University of Michigan. That was followed by a science exhibition that drew 14,000 students at Ford Field, in Detroit. Since then, trekkers have traveled to venues as far away as Washington, DC, and Tennessee.

Kim D'Augustino works a demonstration.

Kimberly D’Augustino is a second-year biomedical engineering major who spotted MindTrekkers doing an on-campus demonstration. Now, she is running for vice president of the group, and added exercise science for a double major.

“I was always better in math in high school,” she says. “But at Michigan Tech, I realized it can be fun. And with MindTrekkers, it is fun to teach kids.”

Kangas says the group’s success and popularity forced its organizers to take the next step in development and seek university sanction. Building on success, the core group of about a dozen students were being invited to science and engineering expos as far away as Virginia and Washington, DC, trips that require a week away from school.

“It became apparent we could not continue without a forward organization,” he says. “So we put together a student organization, and decided to see how much more interest was out there.”

The on-campus demo that attracted  D’Augustino also landed another 50 or so students, says Kangas. Now the group claims about 400 undergraduate and graduate students, with a core group of about 40 handling most of the tasks, which include a repertoire of about 100 demonstrations.

“There’s more and more ownership by the students and that allows [faculty and advisors] to step back and build a network,” says Kangas.

Group members say preparing for an expo with thousands of students is akin to preparing for battle: there has to be a plan to handle the nonstop flow of traffic. “You’ve really got about 30 seconds to three minutes to explain the science and technology behind the demo,” says Kangas.

Mindtrekkers has played to literally thousands of kids at settings as diverse as the National Boy Scout Jamboree and the National Mall, in Washington. Organizers say it was there they discovered they had a winning formula. Using a booth outfitted with a large-screen LED display and loudspeakers blaring music, they drew droves of kids who hung around to participate.

Despite the success, organizers recognized the limits of their success, traveling mostly to corporate- or government-sponsored one-day events for large numbers of students in mostly urban areas. By reorganizing and growing, they plan on taking their show on the road more often with more students to largely rural areas with little to no access to higher education, let alone engineering and science. They are also diversifying the talent pool, attracting students studying business, communications, and other disciplines.

Kangas says the school is seeking a grant from the National Science Foundation to fund 10 festivals per year over four years in rural school districts and community colleges. “It’s a natural fit,” he says, pointing to statistics that report 55% to 60% of college students nationwide come from rural areas.

The group now is actively seeking corporate and professional partners to help with funding, logistical support or simply putting their name behind their efforts. They also want to bring the message to other colleges and universities and establish MindTrekkers throughout the country.

For the students, the program also offers training and experience in collaboration, teaching, marketing, public speaking, and other skills corporate and industrial employers are seeking. Already, says Kangas, a half-dozen MindTrekkers have been asked to interview with 3M Corp., whose representatives came away impressed from a demo.

“It’s a bonus,” says Kangas. “It’s something we never really thought of.”

Michigan Tech's MindTrekkers preach the gospel of STEM education to K-12 students through a traveling roadshow of interactive science demonstrations.

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